US NEWS - July 24 - Craig Nelsen says that Groupon's payment structure led to the failure of his waffle shop. "I can no longer afford to sell waffles for $8.00 and still pay my employees." he wrote. The company sends businesses their share of sales in three installments, and Nelsen says the wait for those checks was so long that he couldn't keep up on other basic business costs. He joins a chorus of companies that feel they were burned by doing business with Groupon. In 2011, a UK bakery lost a year's worth of profits on a Groupon deal offering 75% off of a dozen cupcakes. When 8,500 people purchased the deal, the shop was forced to make and sell 102,000 cupcakes at a loss. "Groupon is one of the most effective marketing tools available to small businesses—it will yield an influx of traffic," Groupon spokeswoman Julie Mossler writes in an email. She notes that only 18% of the Back Alley Waffles deals sold have been redeemed, and Groupon has paid the restaurant two installments totalling $2,126, though Nelsen says that the checks came too late.
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The Evolution Of Daily Deals
ADOTAS - Jul 20 - The daily deals landscape has become increasingly crowded. The largest players are still the pure-play daily deal sites, such as Groupon and LivingSocial, but these sites are losing popularity because they are seen as cannibalizing full-priced sales opportunities and not delivering the repeat business merchants hoped for. Newer entrants such as Lifebooker and StitchSocial began to focus on a single vertical. Several deal exchanges such as Google Offers and Facebook Offers facilitate the exchange of merchant offers to consumers. Deal exchanges are primarily about sourcing and aggregating deals. Another distinct category has emerged: the white-label platform.
DinoPromo.com: Deals On Luxury Merchandise
SBWIRE - July 11 - DinoPromo.com features promo codes and special deals on premium quality pieces of merchandise. Users can find discounted prices on everything from Andre Assous shoes to Cubic Zirconia pieces by Kenneth Jay Lane. DinoPromo.com expects customers to save anywhere from $50 to $100 on each item they purchase.
Travelzoo Sees Rise In Profits On Increased Newsletter Subs
REUTERS - July 20 - Travelzoo, an online travel deals company, reported increased quarterly profits fueled by new subscriptions to its email newsletter. Q2 EPS rose to $0.45 from $0.30 last year. Q2 revenues are up 5% to $39.4M and shares are up 8% premarket.
Fab Raises $105M
MASHABLE - July 18 - Fab.com, a social ecommerce site, has raised $105 million in Series C financing. Fab originated as a gay social network and transitioned into an ecommerce site. The site has grown to over 5 million members and is selling 3.4 products per minute.
TroopSwap.com Launches As A Daily Deal Site For Military
CSBJ - July 17 - Two former Army Rangers have created TroopSwap.com, which is a daily deal site exclusively for active-duty military, veterans and dependents. The site partnered with USAA, Military One Source, and Just for Military to provide military verification. The site gives companies an opportunity to market directly to the market segment. The company has raised $2.5M in funding and has 50,000 members and more than 1,000 businesses offering flash sales, discounts and daily deals.
by Monica Mendoza
See full article at Colorado Springs Business Journal
LivingSocial Launches Shop To Compete With Groupon Goods
REUTERS - July 18 - LivingSocial launched its first product sales business on Tuesday to compete with Groupon Goods. The service will sell discounted merchandise in themed deals. Sales will last for seven days. The 15 test product offers generated $39,000 in revenue in June.
Daily Deal Site Totsy Raises $18.5M In Funding
GEEKWIRE - July 18 - New York based daily deal site Totsy, which caters to baby and kids products, has raised $18.5 million in a second round of funding led by Rho Ventures and DFJ Gotham. Seattle based rival Zulily raised $43 million in venture capital last summer. The two companies are in a heated rivalry.
Blip A Deal Provides Easy Access To Daily Deals Data
PR WEB - July 16 - Blip A Deal, which is a free service for businesses and developers, is offering its API which simplifies the access of global daily deals data. The API can provide a list of deals based off geographic location, keywords/phrases, or defined categories. The site indexes over 500,000 deals a month from 12 countries.
Groupon Ireland Partners With Affiliate Window
ECONSULTANCY.COM - July 16 - Groupon Ireland has partnered with Affiliate Window to provide its IE affiliate program, which consolidates it's program with the rest of the European Groupon affiliate programs. The program in Ireland was previously administered by TradeDoubler.
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